


Where Did The Party Go?

by HalcyonFrost



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alliances, Clothing Kink, Desire, Enemies to Friends, Flirting, Loki Does What He Wants, Loki's Party Armor, M/M, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Power Play, Thor 3 Ragnarok Divergent, Tony Stark Does What He Wants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-03
Updated: 2017-04-03
Packaged: 2018-10-14 07:11:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10531488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HalcyonFrost/pseuds/HalcyonFrost
Summary: When there's a black void on the camera footage at Tony's penthouse bar, he's dubious about checking it out in person, but he lacks other options. There's a person there - the flamboyant cape says Asgardian - but the person that turns around was someone Tony thought wasdead. Only Loki is alive, and even more shockingly, he's asking Tony for help.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Why are there not five hundred fan works of Loki’s [party armor](http://halcyonfrost.tumblr.com/post/158167865744/cheers-mrhiddleston-the-trickster-returns-x) already? Well, here’s a fic for ya. Also [art](http://brunegonda.tumblr.com/post/158209280197/why-are-we-not-talking-about-the-yellow-cape-why) (not by me but someone much more talented at arts) that helped jumpstart my need for more. Inspired by Entertainment Weekly’s tiny teaser pic of Loki’s new look, including (and improving) some mentions in the article of movie plot. Plus Frostiron. Because I need it.

There was a man in Asgardian armor and an unfamiliar cape of gold at Tony's bar, and Friday couldn't seem to raise the lights. Two parts of an equation that usually equaled bad. The latter indicated magic, the former was pure observation since, again, goddamn _magic_ being involved meant Friday couldn't see that part of the penthouse, only record an anomalous presence. Even standing right here, all Tony could really make out was a dark head of hair and metallic pauldrons securing a cape so bright that the city lights from the window reflected on the rich cloth. Now would have been a really good time to holler for his suits and blast the stranger's ass back to another world, but considering the guy (assumed male, Tony didn’t really have much of a hint as to gender considering the two Asgardians Tony met were both male and both wore their hair long) was just sitting there, the presence didn't seem like much of a threat. A power play, definitely, but not an act of aggression. And Tony could play just as well out of his suit as he could in it.

(That sounded better than the fact Friday tried to send a suit to face the mystery, and it failed too. The camera still couldn't register an image - nothing but a pool of black surrounding one end of the bar counter, and after a moment, only a single distorted voice was allowed to be heard: _"you'll have to do better than that."_ So it wouldn't do much good to Tony if he got in his suit and then couldn't see shit. Heartbreaker V. 2 was still on backup duty in case Tony needed to leap into some body protection, but the armor wasn't good for much else right then. Nothing beat good, old-fashioned face-to-face, it seemed.)

"Nice night for a drink?" Tony asked, and the figure straightened their back at being addressed. "You could have asked first."

The stranger slung an arm over the back of the stool and started to pivot to face Tony. "I had thought your offer was open-ended, Mr. Stark."

_Oh, shit._

"Surely you haven't forgotten me so easily."

"Loki." _Seriously need to get to work on magic-proofing my tower. Enough is enough._ "Been a few years. Heard you were dead for most of it."

"Then your source was unreliable." Loki stood, setting down the martini glass filled with wicked green liquor. As he did, the lights raised with him, all the better to show his glory. A power play indeed, and a mirror of the last time they faced each other. Though Loki was weaponless this time, his smile was still knife-sharp and his walk impossibly fluid.

"Would have thought the guy that saw both your injury and your presumed death would be reliable enough."

He tucked his chin with a look not unlike a playful scorning. "Seeing is believing, not knowing."

_Fine. Don't explain then, asshole._

Seeing as how Loki didn’t seem to be attacking, Tony gave the god a thorough onceover to check out the new look. The iconic battle garb of before had been significantly toned down - no longer solid armor of contrast and edges but an understated shirt closer to a leather jerkin, with a diagonal pin tucks across the chest that echoed of the past. There was still the glint of bright metal pauldrons, more faint accents along the sleeves and formed vambraces, and in a minimized but familiar shape at the collar. For Loki, it was pretty tame. Until one got to the cape. Ugh. _Capes_.

When Tony reached Loki's face again after the appraisal, Loki had one eyebrow quirked halfway up his forehead and the corner of his mouth turned up in amusement at being checked out.

"Back from being not-dead _and_ a new look? Good times."

"Thank you for noticing." Loki inclined his head and almost looked genuinely flattered at the recognition. "It was time for something new."

"Kind of ostentatious with the gold though. Ostentatious for you, even." Tony was picking a fight with it, but Loki only laughed with a little shrug.

"You would know," _ouch, and there was the retaliatory sucker punch,_ "but if it's subtlety you want..." With a proud jut upwards of his head, Loki stepped back and held his arms out on display as a shimmer of gold threads pulled across his body and the alien armor faded to a matched suit of pants, jacket, shirt, and tie all as black as a raven's feathers, perfectly fitted and tailored the likes of which Tony only managed with custom work. Then again, _magic_ was on Loki's side there.

"Better?" Loki questioned, and his tone had that "I know I look good" sound to it.

_God, yes. I mean, wait, stop checking out the alien almost-conqueror._

"Well, you got the change part down." It was an all black suit; there was no contrast or color to it, and yet... It really did look _insanely_ good.

"And you as well." He tapped the center of his own chest and nodded towards Tony. "You once held a light, did you not?"

"I did." And not a word more admittance to that.

Loki waited for extrapolation, but when Tony didn't provide it, Loki exhaled a resigned breath and smiled indulgently. "We needn't be enemies, Mr. Stark. I came seeking the opposite."

"Really?"

Pulling the front of his jacket in to button it, Loki started towards Tony in slow, measured steps. Tony resolutely didn't move an inch. "It seems I made a mistake."

"And you're admitting to it?"

"I'm trying a new method." Loki admitted before staring Tony down very pointedly. "And a new ally."

"You want me as an ally?"

"I always have." He stopped an arm's length away from Tony. "Circumstances have prevented it thus far, so I'm making you another offer-"

"You didn't offer before." Tony clarified. "You tried to take."

"And without my 'glowstick of destiny,' I'll have to ask instead. So shut up and let me."

Helplessly, a grin pulled at Tony's mouth. So sue him, panache wasn't Loki's only talent. "You sure know how to persuade me to the dark side."

"I believe we're both in need of allies, and I'm offering my help in exchange for yours."

"Who says I need allies?"

"Every news outlet on your realm." Loki snapped irritably. "Your Avengers truly are spread to the wind now, and the threat is not passed yet. We need each other, Mr. Stark, and I'm trying to offer you a trade."

"Last we met," Tony jabbed a finger at Loki's chest, "you tried to kill me. Do you always try to kill people you're trying to get to work with?"

"Historically, yes." Loki answered with a nonchalance that was as amusing as it was slightly off kilter. "But to be fair, all of the circumstances have been extreme."

"Thanks for the reassurance."

"Past _disagreements_ notwithstanding, my options are few as is." He confessed. "What favors I gained across the realms have run out, but my need for them has tripled. I have little choice in the matter of needing help, but I can choose who I ask for, and I'm choosing _you_."

Goddamn sweet talker. Tony knew the words, knew it was catering and could very well be manipulation, but he also knew that that was what it took sometimes to ask someone that hated you, to then help you. Hell, Tony was very well practiced in that. And unfortunately, Loki wasn't wrong about Tony needing another couple players in his corner of the field. He thought about reading a letter that made his chest burn and his head fill with resentment and betrayal. He thought about reading it over again and still not losing the sinking feeling in his gut at such seemingly apathetic words of apology from someone who once was considered a friend. He remembered the phone, its very inclusion symbolic of "I know you'll need me so I know you'll call" and how Tony wanted to chuck it at the wall and make sure it shattered into too many pieces to fix, only he instead buried it in a drawer of a room he never went in. He thought about all that Steve had broken, the people he'd gotten in trouble and were imprisoned for associating with him, and then how he left someone else to clean up the mess and take the blame. And Tony knew what his answer to Loki was going to be.

"Start talking, and I'll start drinking." He sidestepped Loki and made straight for the bar, rooting around for something strong enough to get through dealing with Loki. Tony could drink the whole bar, and it still wouldn't be enough, but he supposed he could start with a glass of scotch.

Loki was right behind, retrieving his own spirits, and popping the suit jacket buttons before taking a seat again. His glass looked like it held something like Midori, which was odd considering Tony didn't touch Midori and certainly didn't keep a stock of the stuff. Did Loki follow the BYOB rhetoric then?

"A very old friend of mine has slipped her bonds." He began. "She's far more powerful than I am and has been imprisoned long enough to twist into something quite mad. Odin put her there in secret, but he neglected to mention of her existence to others. Or that her wards needed to be checked and redone frequently."

"I can see this is going good places."

"She broke the containment wards from _inside_ her cage. She already faced Thor for but a moment before banishing him to another world."

"Why not go pick up Thor again?" Tony poured himself a little more than his usual and took a sip of Scotch before he'd even finished putting down the decanter. "Why come to me?"

"Because I've been to Sakaar, and I'd rather face the rest of my years in a cage than return to that world in this life or the next." He said it with such conviction, such surety, and... there was fear of the name in the clench of Loki's jaw. A look that was surely similar to Tony's when Afghani caves were the topic on tap. "Thor will survive well there, _favored_ , even, until he finds a path to return. He is always favored." Which considering Loki said the name, Sakaar, with such deep loathing and bitterness, meant that Loki likely did not go over well during his vacation, and that discussing it was an incredibly sore spot. Much as Tony had doubts as to Thor's well-being, Loki was the one in Tony's tower right now and definitely chief on Tony's list of people and things to worry about immediately. "Thor is in little danger to his safety. My concern is closer to home."

"Okay. Then tell me about the dangerous escapee."

Loki took another sip of his drink as Tony did the same and focused on what was safe to discuss. "I cannot convince her to stand down, and her plots for personal revenge jeopardizes a much larger plan of mine against a foe that threatens us all. But I cannot defend from or defeat her myself."

"And you thought of me. How sweet."

"I have a weakness for wanting powerful beings on my side. Does it surprise you that I came here with that in mind?"

"Honey, I know I'm the power that people want. That hasn't changed in thirty years." That was all people _ever_ wanted from him. Always yes for Iron Man, but Tony Stark, not recommended. They wanted the suit and the armor and the power, but they didn't want the man that made them possible. What made Loki any different?

"But you're not like your friends." Loki leaned onto his elbows across the counter, letting Tony keep the barrier of the bar between them, but Loki wasn't going to stop pressing closer. "I don't want one-trick warriors, I want skilled beings that adapt, think, and _solve_ battles instead of just fighting them. I don't want another warrior; I want an ally at my side that can engage me outside of battle in more than another fight. I want a partner who I can value."

Tony's throat contracted on the next sip of scotch. It took him a second of staring back at Loki's unerring gaze before Tony could swallow and speak again. "You like me. Don't you? _Me._ "

Loki righted himself with a far too casual shrug that was as tense and obviously forced as it likely felt. "I have a type. And it's not the warmongering, violent ilk that I have had the misfortune of being surrounded by for most of my life. I greatly prefer another intellectual mind for company."

"Again: _me._ Not Iron Man."

That look again - narrowed eyes and tilted head. "Iron Man without Tony Stark is akin to magic without a mage. It is a tool made brilliant only by its wielder."

"You're pandering, but I kind of like it."

The relieved inhale and exhale was barely noticeable across Loki's shoulders except that Tony was kind of looking. Had he mentioned the suit was fantastic? He couldn't say it out loud, but he knew he couldn't completely hide that he was looking more than could be considered casual. Unfortunately, it didn't go unnoticed, and Loki got a curious glint in his eye when he spotted it. "That doesn't seem to be the only thing you like."

"No denial here."

"No?" Letting his gaze trail down very obviously across Tony's upper half and then back up, Loki slid his crossed elbows halfway across the bar, daring to further push the small boundary between them. "And what else catches your eye?" As if Loki didn’t have a voice to make nuns cry before, it got even worse. Tony was _not_ imagining that distinct tone.

Should he stop it? Say it was in his head and going to stay that way? Draw a very clear line? Or... none of the above. Fuck it, it was time to have _fun._ Between the Accords and the Avengers, parting ways with Pepper, Rhodey's injury, plus the metric ton of everything else on his shoulders lately, "fun" had not been on his schedule for months. And then here was Loki: the guy associated with one of Tony's major nightmares. Everything else had been turned upside down, why not this? Why couldn't bad turn good when good turned bad?

Propping his elbows on the counter between them, Tony leaned closer until he could see the flickers of thinly veiled surprise crossing Loki's face. "Not gentle about testing the waters, are you?"

"You won't find much gentle about me. Subtlety and a soft touch is for beings much less aware of time than we are."

Sure, time could be down to nothing in a moment. Tony and Loki's multiple near-death experiences were a testament to that, but... it was a kind of fatalistic mindset. Live for today, yes. But prepare for tomorrow too.

"So?" Loki prompted when Tony didn't reply immediately. "Tell me what else you like."

It was nothing to do with the tiny amount of alcohol he consumed and all the doing of Tony's hedonistic imagination that had him thinking about reaching out and slipping the tie from Loki's suit jacket, using it to pull him in close enough to touch where both his and Loki's eyes kept dropping. It was too easy to keep going. "I'm equally partial to a good day in my shop or a good fuck over the back of a couch. And I'm flexible as to who receives that latter one."

The mental image likely flooding Loki's mind darkened his eyes as they flitted to the side for a moment, a grin curving his mouth and wrinkled the corners of his eyes - surprise and delight and real interest. It almost felt wrong that it gave Tony such a charge. He was almost tempted to, and he let himself move in that little bit more that was already closer than they should have dared. Except that... Somehow the mood wasn't there to keep going.

"But. Maybe another time."

"Ah." Loki withdrew in an instant. It said more than it should have that Tony actually regretted _that._ It wasn't completely lost though; Loki still had a smirk on that said he didn't regret a thing. "My curiosity is only to blame for now."

"Oh, I was encouraging it. I don’t tease without intention."

The interest flickered back with Loki's slight head tilt. "Would there be a right time then?"

"It's pretty likely."

Loki hummed under his breath. "You're still interested in the partnership I initially offered then?"

"Powerful demigod ally with potential, extra, sexy benefits? Yeah, I think I'll sign up for that." Rocking back onto his feet, Tony swiped his drink from the bar and walked around to the other side to take a seat in the chair next to Loki. The god's eyes followed with curiosity as he shifted to face, his feet tucked up on the footrest with his knees spread so wide (enough to accommodate another person between them, Tony's brain so helpfully supplied) that it would have looked comical on anyone else, only to look like poise and self-confidence on Loki. Once upon a time, Tony would have assumed the armor contributed to the posture and the pride and the sly attitude; now it seemed it was all Loki under there.

_Get your goddamn brain out of the gutter, Tony._

"So let's talk terms." Tony distracted himself.

Loki's brow furrowed. "Terms?"

"Location, team, inclusion, limits."

"Who goes where and what do they do." Loki summarized.

"See? We're on the same page."

That sigh said Loki didn’t like that they were. "As Asgard is Hela's goal, she'll likely be easiest to catch there. As for a team..." his eyes narrowed, "who did you have in mind?"

There were a sad few available names, both unfamiliar to Loki, but Rhodey and Vision were the only two Tony trusted to bring along for the ride and hold their own. Four against one was going to be easier than two against one, assuming Hela didn't draft an army as well. Tony wasn't going to Asgard in secret or without a couple extra guns himself, so dubious as Loki was, this was going to be a team effort. It had to be.

Tony slouched his weight back onto his elbow across the back of the chair. "I know a couple people."

**Author's Note:**

> I had to make something for that new Thor3 armor. _I had to_. Stars didn't like Loki's new party duds at first, so I had to come up with something to make it more palatable too. xP
> 
>  ~~There is an explicit extra/sequel in progress coming up, but I cannot promise a deadline on when it will go up. ^^;;~~ There is now an explicit sequel! Follow the link under "Works Inspired by this one" to check it out! 
> 
> Keep an eye out on my Tumblr (halcyonfrost.tumblr.com) for updates on all my fics and more cooing over Marvel!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [I Want Some More (What Are You Waiting For?)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11514858) by [HalcyonFrost](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HalcyonFrost/pseuds/HalcyonFrost)




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